Al Shaheen oil field
Encyclopedia
The Al Shaheen Oil Field is a production oil and gas field off the north east of coast of Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...

 in the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...

, 180 kilometres (111.8 mi) north of Doha
Doha
Doha is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar...

. The oil field lies over the North Gas Field, the largest gas field in the world. The field is operated by Maersk Oil Qatar AS of Denmark under a production sharing agreement with Qatar Petroleum
Qatar Petroleum
Qatar Petroleum is a state owned petroleum company in Qatar. The company operates all oil and gas activities in Qatar, including exploration, production, refining, transport, and storage. QP's Chairman Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, is also the head of the Ministry of Energy and Industry and, as...

, on behalf of the state of Qatar.

History

The oil field was discovered in 1992 by Maersk Oil. The drilling of appraisal wells was completed in 1994 by using horizontal drilling techniques. Regular oil production started at the same year. In 1995–1996, production facilities were extended with a subsea export pipelines, an additional single point mooring loading buoy, new process facilities and a STAR type wellhead platform.

In April 2004, the extension area north of block 5 was included to the production sharing agreement agreement. Inauguration of new offshore facilities took place on 23 February 2005.

In May 2008, GSF Rig 127 operated by Transocean
Transocean
Transocean Ltd. is one of the world's largest offshore drilling contractors. The company rents floating mobile drill rigs, along with the equipment and personnel for operations, to oil and gas companies at an average daily rate of US$282,700...

 drilled the world record extended reach well
Extended Reach Drilling
Extended Reach Drilling is directional drilling of very long horizontal wells. The aims of ERD are:# to reach a larger area from one surface drilling location, and...

 BD-04A in the field. The well was drilled incident free to a record measured depth of 40320 ft (12,289.5 m) including a record horizontal reach of 35770 ft (10,902.7 m) in 36 days.

From 2004 until August 2009 the massive supertanker, Knock Nevis
Knock Nevis
Seawise Giant, later Happy Giant, Jahre Viking, and Knock Nevis, was a ULCC supertanker and the longest ship ever built, and possessed the greatest deadweight tonnage ever recorded...

, the largest oil tanker built to date, was moored there as a floating storage and offloading unit (FSO). In January 2010, she was replaced by FSO Asia, owned by Overseas Shipholding Group
Overseas Shipholding Group
Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc. is one of the largest oil tanker operating companies in the world. It is based in New York City....

 and Euronav
Euronav
Euronav is an independent tanker company engaged in the ocean transportation of crude oil and petroleum products. The company is compliant with the International Safety Management Code requirements, which assure a high level of safety and environmental protection...

.

Geology

The oil and gas producing formation is the Upper Permian-Lower Triassic Khuff Formation. The field is described by low permeability, limited thickness, and geological complexity.

Production

The field consist of 131 operational production and water injection wells, 18 permanent platforms, and six production installations connected by 20 pipelines. In 2006, Al Shaheen's production of 240000 oilbbl/d accounted for a significant portion of Qatar's total oil production of 815000 oilbbl/d. Although the production capacity reaches 260000 oilbbl/d, the current actual production is only 200000 oilbbl/d due to OPEC
OPEC
OPEC is an intergovernmental organization of twelve developing countries made up of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. OPEC has maintained its headquarters in Vienna since 1965, and hosts regular meetings...

 quotas. A development plan between Maersk Oil and Qatar Petroleum is calling for an increase in field production to 525000 oilbbl/d. This increase is expected to account for the majority of growth in Qatar's petroleum output over this time.

Oil is stored at the floating storage and offloading vessels Maran Canopus, Asto Canopus, and FSO Asia. FSO Africa was to join FSO Asia; however, this contract was canceled by Maersk Oil. Produced oil is transported to the Mesaieed Industrial City for processing and exporting. There is a plant to build a new 250000 oilbbl/d refinery in Mesaieed to process oil from Al Shaheen; however, this plan is postponed.

The Al-Shaheen field produces also the associated gas. The gas production is estimated about 220 Mcuft/d of which 125 – is exported through the North Field Alpha facilities to Mesaieed, 30 Mcuft/d is consumed on-site for power and heat generation, and 40 Mcuft/d is flared.
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